Panthalassa: Under Current
by chiriko1117
Summary: A companion set of stories for the Pathalassa series. Detailing mundane and fantastic moments not necessary to the plot of the main story. Cannon couples Pre-twilight through post BD. OC/Cullens
1. How I met your Father

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction intended for entertainment purposes only. The characters and world belong to Stephenie Meyer, I just like playing with them.

AN: Hello and welcome! If you are new to Panthalassa I think going back to read the first story in the series (Panthalassa: Low Tide) would probably help you in understanding what is going on in this story.

Under Current is going to be where I add little side stories and things, basically bits about Panthalassa that don't fit inside the main storyline. If you have a outtake request put it in a review or PM me and I'll see what I can do.

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**Panthalassa : Under Current**

**How I met your father**

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It was raining lightly and I hadn't prepared at all, thinking it would be a normal sunny afternoon, I had left the courtesy umbrella the hotel had given me back in the room. I hated when my feet got wet, and I was wearing the cutest new pumps from a little boutique I had visited in Venice.

I waited for the street to clear of the little cars and quickly made my way across the lane to the small pub just across from a little cozy looking park. Of course no one was _in_ the park, it was absent the old men reading news papers, mum's taking their children for strolls or even the odd dog walker.

"Ye gods it took you long enough!" my best friend yelled over to me as I meandered the thin crowd of people left over from the lunch break.

"I wasn't sure what to wear," I grumped gesturing to my clothes, I had really wanted to wear my summer dress but it would have been a bad choice for the rain. Hell the shoes had been a bad choice but I couldn't _not_ wear them. In fact I had worn my cute new shoes everywhere I'd traveled with Tiffany on our Europe trip so far.

She gave me a skeptical look.

"I got lost on the way over… It's not like remember the streets very well. _If_ you remember rightly last time we were in Berlin I was drunk for the majority of the daylight hours." I folded my arms over my chest defensively.

She caught the laugh that wanted to escape and turned it into a cough, but she hadn't fooled me.

"Remember how that bloke Spencer wanted to go to that drag show?"

"I barely remember Spencer let alone where we ended up ditching him." I rolled my eyes, the playful smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

We sat at the table Tiffany had been waiting for me at, it was nearest the toilets and there was a loud big tele playing a football match directly in front of us just behind the bar.

Tiffany slid a drink towards me; it looked like a regular cola.

"Tiff, doozer?" I asked, using our slang for a spiked soda. It had been a phrase we'd coined our first year at university. It had something to do with the fact she liked to be sneaky even if it wasn't necessary.

All she did was nod once and continue ogling the men in the pub around us. There weren't many, an odd trio of business men in their mid forties. An elderly couple, the woman with lipstick so red I could even see the impression she'd left on her sherry glass from across the room.

We had been snacking on some healthy chips and discussing the end of our trip, as our flight was leaving late the next evening. Our Europe trip had been sort of a tradition of ours for the last five years, every year before the start of the next year at University she and I would go to the same four cites over a two week period. Originally Tiff and I had two other girl friends that came with us, but Meghan was married, and Bay was living in Beijing, so it had been Tiff and I for the last two years. Even if we were both out of Uni now it was still something we liked to do together. Tiff and I actually liked it better with just the two of us, as it was easier for our competition to continue.

While I had the looks, Tiff had the magnetic personality she liked to claim it was because she was a Scorpio, I like to claim it was because she was a ho-bag. It was a simple competition, see who could get the guy we'd picked to want to go to the hotel with us. Rarely did we ever actually follow through on the given gentlemen; we'd just leave him standing there after a hot kiss at the front door of the hotel and then ditch him.

I loved knowing how much power I had; Tiff liked seeing their surprised faces.

So far Berlin was dry pickings. So far for the month I was up at a 7-4 score. Tiff was looking to bank on the fact she actually knew German to help her.

I was ready to call the pub a loss and ask if we could head out to a museum or find a free concert for later in the night, but Tiff was on her second cosmo and had just ordered a third. I switched to beer at that point. She gave me cheeky dirty look when the pint was set in front of me by the waitress.

.~.

The football match was suddenly interrupted by some news report.

The whole pub went silent and as all channels went into an emergency broadcast. The bar tender turned the TV's volume up and we all watched in horror as some sky scraper in New York city was smoking.

"What's going on?" Tiff asked concerned after having come back from the loo.

I just pointed to the tele and took a long slow sip of the beer.

Needless to say Tiff and I didn't move from our spot in the pub, even when it filled with all sort of random people from the street wanting to watch what was going on. Tiff was trying to translate what she could for me.

After the second plane hit, and then the first tower fell, I couldn't stop crying. Low murmurs in German and some in English didn't drown out the reporter. Tiffany had stopped translating, because really what else could be said?

"Sind sie in ordnung fräulein?" A man asked me and I dabbed at my eyes with the paper napkin my beer had been sitting on.

"I don't speak German, sorry," I mumbled the sadness at so many innocent lives just lost in America made my stomach clench.

I was offered a travel size tissue pack and I took it as I looked up to the man offering.

"Londoner?" He asked his light brown eyes sad, and worried. I knew he wasn't worried about me, but about the whole situation. In fact every person in the bar seemed to be rocked into a state of shock and horror at what had happened in the States.

I nodded, and blew my nose, catching Tiff glancing at me and away from the TV. She appraised the man's profile and gave me a scowl, as if to berate me for trying to pick up a bloke in this situation.

But I wasn't trying to pick him up, but for Tiff even a crisis was an opportunity to 'score'.

"You lady's on a holiday?" he asked gesturing to the free chair between the wall and myself. Tiff scooted away slightly, having turned back to the tele.

"We were…" I sighed dabbing my eyes again.

"You missed a little," the stranger gestured to the left and I instantly was mortified. I dabbed quickly and saw the small black from my mascara tainting the white of the tissue.

"They closed the airport," Tiff's tone was shocked, and I turned my attention to her. The pubs noise level suddenly rose. She swiveled back on her chair, her light brown hair flipping behind her. She appraised the man again. And it brought my attention to the fact I hadn't yet learned his name.

"Oh thanks," I said suddenly handing him back the packet. He smiled sadly at me, his eyes darting to the TV over our heads.

"My names Adam, by the way," he told us, his Scottish brogue was easily discernable.

_Great_, I sighed mentally, _my one weakness, Scottish boys._ Tiff knew this too, and her grumpy, shocked face over the tragedy happening in the States as well as the airports worldwide morphed into one of teasing triumph.

"I'm Tiffany, this is Joy," she nodded in my direction, "And yeah, we were on a bit of a holiday; call it a tradition if you will. But we were supposed to fly back to Heathrow tomorrow 'round supper." She elegantly laid her elbows on the table and put her chin in her hands. The pose was to heighten his view of her cleavage, of which there was ample.

"I doubt most of Europe will be up and running by then. They just announced that most airports are closed, I suspect by evenings end most will be down for a bit." Adam said, his eyes looking between the two of us.

We chatted the rest of the evening in the little pub, Tiff trying her best to flirt with the older man, but it was failing as it seemed he wasn't interested in either of us in any sexual way. At the end of the dinner hour, I felt like I needed a good sob back in the hotel for all those poor innocent souls lost. Adam walked us out and told us he'd be willing to give us a lift back to London, as he was heading back in the afternoon by car. His car to be more specific, Adam worked for an engineering firm in London and had to often travel to Berlin for business. He had told us he liked the drive as it gave him time to think. Also he hated planes. And now in light of what happened, I could tell he felt a little justified at not using them.

.~.

"You've been such a stick in the mud since you started dating that pill," Tiff complained over the phone. I smiled into the receiver as I shifted my purse over my shoulders.

"Well, as I recall you were the one who was strongly suggesting, in not so subtle ways I might add, that he and I hook up the entire way back from Berlin last month."

"That was a month ago!" she said in a whinge. She honestly missed me going out to troll for guys. But Adam and I had made our relationship "official" just two nights before. Before then I had been going out with Tiff to be her wing-woman, not actually flirting with guys but Adam had told me I was free to.

"You can call up Anna can't you?" I asked in jest, the laugh at the very idea at her little sister Anna and her going out nearly bursting out of me. I could just see Tiff looking at her receiver with a horrified expression.

"I can certainly tell you aren't taking this seriously. Good day to you." And with that the line went dead. I chuckled while shaking my head out, and taking off the knit cap and light jacket. I put the phone down and waited

1,2,3- the phone started ringing.

"I am sure Anna could be tempted-"

"God!"Tiff yelled and hung up again.

There was nothing like having an instant conversation stopper, and with Tiff it was her little sister Anna. I hadn't really heard all of the story, it was supposedly really that bad that Tiff couldn't even tell me what had happened. But if Tiff was getting on my nerves, much like this instance, all I had to do was bring her sister up.

Tiff didn't call the rest of the night, and I spent it going over the reports for the station I started interning for.

Originally I had wanted to be a journalist, and then I realized I liked broadcasting when our University radio station had a party on Halloween my freshman year. I was snogging a junior in the booth and fell in love with the it, and the boy.

I was getting nervous as Adam had asked me to come up to Edinburgh to meet his family. And for those on the outside of our relationship they'd think we were moving rather fast, Tiff reminded me of this every chance she could. But we'd been together just over a month and I couldn't imagine ever being any happier with a man.

Adam loved music and would play his guitar for me after we'd make love. He was handsome too, not necessarily handsome in the most classic definition, but the more I got to know about him the more beautiful he became to me. There were times when I think he thought the same of me.

.~.

Meeting the MacAvoy's was rather a horrible experience all around. Adam had warned me that he'd had a strained relationship with his parents. He had explained that they had always been very opinionated about anyone he or his sister had been dating. His older sister Rachel, from what I was told was the only one in the family to talk to him semi regularly. I wasn't sure why he felt the need to introduce me to his parents so soon in our relationship perhaps he wanted to get it out of the way so we could move on from there.

"Mum," Adam greeted the plump woman at the door. She had been wiping her hands off in her apron and gave her son a glee filled smile, quickly glancing over his shoulder to see me standing there.

She hugged him quickly.

"I wish you would have let your father pick you up," she scolded him, he laughed lightly and continued to give her a one armed hug. I felt abnormally tall most of the time but standing near the plump little Mrs. MacAvoy I felt almost like an Amazon.

"Mum, this is Joy. Joy this is my mum Angeline." I could tell by the tone of his voice he was gauging the situation with tight anticipation. Mrs. MacAvoy smiled warmly to me and came up to me arms wide. I had to bend down a bit like he had to get a good hug from her.

She ushered us in after, asking about the train ride up, and Adam's work. There was warmth that spread throughout my body when he threaded his fingers through mine as we were lead into the cozy little house.

Adam had warned me that his parents could or would be vicious towards me when they found a fault in me to deem me unworthy of their son. He hadn't brought a girl back to them in over eight years because of the last incident.

"I rather wish you could have come up for the holiday's," she gave him a pleading smile once we were sitting around the wooden kitchen table, the tea pot already on the stove.

"Mum," Adam sighed and started wearing what I was beginning to understanding as his 'fake' smile. He used it a lot for work and it made me feel awkward that he was using it on his own mum.

I smiled sheepishly at the conversation, unsure if I should even add to it.

"That job of yours…" She sniffed loudly and a little bitterly.

Adam had carefully altered the conversation to talking about his parent's auto shop and his brother in law Robert. Based on her happy chatter about Robert and Rachel I realized that Angeline truly loved her son-in-law. And for the most part while I helped her get dinner ready for the six of us I couldn't understand all of the preparation Adam had given me about his parents. Angeline was sweet and kind, except for the odd biting comments she'd make about mundane things. She complained casually about the neighborhood children, about the terrorist attacks on the Americans, about Adam's hair cut and so on. So at first I thought nothing of it, but as the night wore on and I met the rest of his family I suddenly found it rather harsh. I recognized it for what it was when she made a comment about a dumb blonde store clerk that was supposed to help her find some antiacids.

.~.

Looking straight ahead I bit back the tears that had been wanting to fall out of my eyes since his father started on about Americans deserving what they got.

It had been a rather somber topic to begin with and over the after dinner tea it seemed like a safe topic. Until I opened my big mouth and made an opinion on the matter, _god forbid_. Kenneth MacAvoy set his scotch down, as he liked his hearty after dinner drinks, and looked me down through rather stormy grey eyes.

"When you don't pay attention to the world around you, you end up pissing off the wrong people," he gruffly stated. I hadn't expected him to get so serious so quickly over the tragic event that, in part, had caused Adam and I to meet. Apparently Kenneth and Angeline MacAvoy liked America just fine but had always thought Americans rather smug about their place in the world. I had defended the country I had no real animosity towards and then we had ended up in a discussion teetering on the edge of a fight almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

Rachel was sitting on my other side, and from our talking over dinner seemed like a very honest person.

"Dad," she started meaningfully.

"You know what I'm talking about. Those poor souls were just collateral damage," he waggled a finger at his daughter then me. Adam's hand on my thigh tensed and he squeezed it a bit harder. I was horrified at what I was hearing come out of his father's mouth, and I couldn't even blame it on alcohol because he still had his first drink in hand.

"If this happens to wake up the Americans to the fact there are other people living on this planet, then I think it was for the better." He summed up, looking smug. My mouth was agape and I was about to utter a response when Adam squeezed my thigh again.

"Dad, any loss of life is sad and the way those people died was horrible you can't deny that." Adam spoke up, and it felt like he was trying to take the focus off of me.

"He didn't say that it wasn't," Mrs. MacAvoy spoke up.

"Let's stop," Rachel interrupted whatever he dad was about to say and stood up to take the empty dessert plates to the kitchen.

"Let me help," I said quickly and gathered the remaining items she'd left and followed her down the tiny hallway from the formal dining room to the kitchen.

"Sorry about him," Rachel sighed once I stood next to her at the sink.

I shrugged, feeling more than awkward about this family meeting. Because no matter how much Adam had told me about his parents I hadn't believed it.

"He's being belligerent for belligerent's sake. I think he gets a rise out of it. I have theories that he used to be a bully at school and never quite got over the fact after school there was no one to bully," she explained, a sad line forming on her pale forehead as she started pre rinsing the dishes for the washer. I sighed heavily, and then turned to look down the hallway when I heard voices getting loud for a second.

"I had hoped Adam was over exaggerating about the family dynamic." I glanced at her, she was half turned looking at me as I finished putting the rinsed dishes in the washer when she handed them to me.

"Joy," she swallowed hard and closed her eyes before turning fully to look at me. Returning the gesture we faced each other fully. When she opened her eyes she had a worried smile on her face, eyes sad.

"This is the first time I've seen Adam in over a year. The last time he came up here was _only_ to visit me. Mum and dad didn't know he'd been in town. Did you know that last time he's brought a girl was almost eight years go?"

I nodded fidgeting with my jumper's sleeve yet not looking away from her hazel eyes.

"I don't blame him for not coming back more often. And sometimes I wish I'd been strong enough to do what he did and leave. We both love our parents but they… I think they just want to fully control our lives. At least I know dad does. Mum does whatever makes dad happy.

"I like you Joy, and I can tell you make my brother seriously happy. I didn't leave, and I settled for a boy that my dad approved of so I wouldn't have to live feeling like I'd done something wrong. I love Robert, but I don't think I am _in_ love with him, I married him mostly because I knew my dad would never approve of any other man.

"Now, as his big sister I am going to give you some advice and you need to take it if you and Adam want to be happy." She took a long breath and looked to her hands before puckering her lips while she concentrated on forming her next words. My head felt heavy hearing her talk about her own family like this. The feeling of discomfort filled me as I realized that their family dynamic was seriously fucked up.

"Don't ever let him come back here Joy. For his sake as well as yours. They are much harsher on him then they ever were on me. And no matter how hard you try my father has already made up his mind about you. Love my brother despite his family, but please never allow him to come back because I know he truly doesn't want to be here with them, as sad as that is. But my dad made his bed and will have to live with the fact he's alienated his son so much."

When she finished I grimaced, knowing what she was saying was harsh but it also fit with what I had learned and what little he'd told me about his family, namely his parents.

"Then why did he bring me in the first place?"

She smirked at me, and it looked so much like her brother that it had me smiling.

"I suspect he wanted them to meet you because he loves you. And he wanted them to meet you at least once so you didn't ever ask to come back."

.~.

That was the first time I met Adam's parents, and it was the last time too.

Adam proposed to me on our six month anniversary. It hadn't been a very romantic proposal, but I would never have complained, because after all it only mattered that he _did_ propose in the first place.

We had just finished folding the laundry and laughing about Tiff's newest boyfriend. Boyfriend was the kindest word for his relationship with my best mate. His name was Michael and he was a certifiable idiot. He worked Valet at a posh club in central London, where all the tourists go. Tiff spotted him working and thusly worked her magic and bedded the poor boy. He had lasted almost two months and I had regretted asking Tiff why she had kept him around for so long. Adam couldn't stop laughing at my imitation of Tiff putting her hands about a foot apart and smiling wickedly at me.

I sniffed loudly after I finished laughing and took the towels Adam was handing me when he leaned in and kissed my nose. I smiled coyly back, sure of where this light flirting could take us. When the towels were away I found him leaning against the door frame behind me.

"Marry me," he said quietly.

"Is that a demand or a request?" I quipped back, thinking this was a joke of his.

"More like a plea," he stated and took out a ring from his pocket.

We celebrated all night, with a brief break just after midnight so I could call Tiff and tell her the news.

Her response was classic, "Great, tell me when and where and I'll be there. Goodnight."

The next day she had been a proper good friend and was at least faking being happy for me the best way Tiff could.

.~.

"If you take the job I'll never see you!" I whinged half heartedly. Tiff snorted into her coffee mug, her hair properly disheveled after her drunken night of sex with her new toy of the month. I had in fact passed the man responsible for the sex hair on her head in the hallway as I came up.

"Listen you," she used her free hand to poke me hard in the shoulder; I winced and retaliated by punching her in the shoulder. "You've been blissfully married for almost two years now. I have had it up to here with all of the cutesy cuddling you two love birds have been doing." I smiled at her joking tone.

"It's a really high paying job Joy," Tiff finally sighed after taking a long sip from her mug.

I nodded, still frowning.

"I'm not letting you go without a fight." I said firmly.

"I expected this. But do you really want me hanging around when you start squirting out little MacAvoy's?"

We both started chuckling at her body language for the "squirting" part of her sentence.

"You'd be a great Auntie Tiff!" I laughed again as she gagged over her drink and rolled her eyes.

"If you get knocked up to try and keep me here, I can tell you now it won't work." That statement had me actually pouting.

"Adam doesn't want to have kids for a while. He just got that promotion so… we discussed buying a house before we even think about kids."

Tiff nodded and then quickly changed the topic to how she was going to buy me a ticket to come help her move to Chicago in the fall. 2004 was going by far too fast for my opinion.

.~.

I missed my mum so horribly a lot of the time, but none more so than when I had gone into labor. My father tried his best to fill the role since she had died while I was just starting university, but he never quiet managed to do it.

My first call when I started having contractions was to Tiff. She had been asleep, as it was sometime around 3am in Chicago when I called. I ordered her to get her bony slutty ass on the next plane or I would save the placenta and have it mailed to her if she didn't show up. It could have been the pain talking, but whatever it was, it worked.

Adam came with me into the delivery room, his anticipation high, although I had banned him from taking any photo's or videos, it didn't stop him from trying to sneak a couple while I was pushing. I had a kind nurse take the camera from him so he could hold my hand.

When we had found out I was pregnant, a very planned pregnant, we firmly decided to keep the baby's sex a mystery, both of us wanting to experience the euphoria of finding out after he or she came into the world. We had names prepared, a short list of a few so we could see which felt right when we held our little bundle in our arms.

It wasn't as painful as it probably could have been. I had done the labor all natural and heard that the pain was unbearable. I was only in active labor for about 2 hours, the last two centimeters took forever to dilate, but when they did my baby was quickly making its way out to greet us.

"It's a girl!" The doctor said happily, and a second later I heard the frail tragic sounds of a newborn crying. Then Adam started crying happily, and kissed me. I was still in a daze from the natural hormones and chemicals churning in my blood that all I did was smile tiredly as the doctor briefly lifted the wailing newborn up for me to look at.

After the shock of seeing my new little girl covered in blood I realized how beautiful she really was.

Later, hours later, my father had gone home and our little girl was brought back from the nursery so she could feed and spend the night with me in the little room we had been assigned. Adam sat next to me and watched as the little thing suckled away.

"Do we have to name her?" he asked quietly. I didn't get his meaning so I gave him a look.

"She's just too perfect to attach something as mundane as a name to her. Because whatever it is won't be as perfect as she is."

"You said perfect twice darling," I grinned, I was exhausted but I didn't dare fall asleep on this, the happiest night of my life.

"Doesn't make it any less true," he sighed and gently ran the back of his knuckle down the soft slope of her little head.

"Has anyone ever told you how much of a sap you are?" I asked. He only nodded in response.

"We could name her after your mum," he suggested. He had always told me how much he liked my mum's name. I looked at the bundle at my breast and sighed, it hurt to think of calling her my mum's name, but somewhere in the back of my mind I liked the idea of her being represented in my girl.

"Evelyn…" I murmured aloud. It didn't fit.

"I like your mums name too though," I spoke softly.

We rarely talked about his parents. And when we did it was only to discuss what we were going to tell them about our lives, if anything. We told them we'd gotten married, after the fact of course. We told them when we'd moved into London to be near my father. But we hadn't even told them that they were grandparents. Rachel knew, and that was enough for Adam, which was enough for me.

"Angeline…" it was his turn to speak with a musing tone.

It was times like this that I knew Adam and I were soul mates because we looked at each other and spoke the same name for our little girl.

"Evangeline."

.~.

She wouldn't stop crying. Nothing I did would make her stop. I even stooped to rubbing a little brandy on her gums to get her to relax, but it only made her give a stronger push into crying.

Adam had been away for just over two weeks on a contract in Berlin, and I was eagerly awaiting his return in a couple days, but Eva was being the crankiest baby on the planet for some unknown reason. If I didn't feel some motherly obligation to keep her I would have just given her up for adoption at that moment because the crying was driving me insane.

She eventually cried herself to sleep, and I took the moment to get into the shower and get all the baby tears, drool, and grime from the two days I hadn't been able to.

I'd called the doctors as soon as the usual things didn't calm her, but when she didn't even have the slightest temperature the doctors told me to wait till Monday.

She had stopped her fit on Monday, which I glumly noted was perfect timing on her part. I had been a mother for almost eight months and I often still felt like I knew nothing about this little baby that was my child. Sometimes I'd look back on Tiff life decisions and wish I'd done the same. No babies, no man to clean up after, just sex and a bed all to herself when I wanted it. But when Adam came home from his overseas trips and I saw his smile I knew that this was actually where I wanted to be, no matter how many stinking nappy's I had to change.

Adam looked horrible, absolutely dreadful when his taxi dropped him off. He had deep shadows under his eyes, and his light brown hair was limp. Eva was sleeping in her cot as I helped him in with his luggage. He winced while he sat down at the dining room table. I went about fixing a cup of tea, asking him what happened.

"Oh-" he began and ran a hand through his hair, which looked darker and dirtier than I had ever seen it. "Some kid at the airport ran into me…pushing me into a railing." He explained, his eyes not meeting mine.

"Ruddy teenagers," I grumbled. I gave him an encouraging smile and he smiled back, his eyes seemed to twinkle as he looked at me.

We went to bed that night, and made slow love. His large strong hands touching the spots on my body that had me remembering why I missed him so much.

.~.

Yawning I set the coffee pot back in its cradle and turned to see my husband trying to feed Eva some pureed banana's. He had just come down after I set her up, and offered to feed her. And the warm complete feeling I often felt when I looked at father and daughter together satisfied me.

After all of the MacAvoy's were fed Adam bent down to pick Eva up to get her cleaned, while I put the dishes in the sink. I had to get to work, while he had the next two days off.

As soon as Adam lifted Evangeline out of the chair she started wailing, so loudly I nearly dropped the plates in the sink with shock. Adam looked like a deer in headlights and scooped her closer to his body to help comfort her.

She didn't stop crying even after we finished changing her nappy. Adam looked frazzled and scared. I took her from him so he could warm a bottle, in case she was still hungry. It took her a moment after being in my arms that she started settling down, burying her head in my shoulder and making pitiful whimpers as if she'd been burned.

I settled her into her cot before kissing Adam and quickly finishing getting ready for work.

Adam called me twice at work that day, both times Evangeline was wailing in the background. I could tell he felt awful about her new crying habit, and I told him she'd been doing it off and on for a while. I suggested he put her down and turn some music on, as nothing had been physically wrong with her any of the last times she'd been having a fit.

.~.

He had been drinking and I suddenly felt pity looking and him slumped in the armchair, our little girl sleeping in her playpen. When we went to bed that night he was completely drunk, after I got settled and he must have assumed I was asleep he snuck out of the bed to go to the bathroom. I waited for him and when he didn't return I quietly walked down the hall to listen at the door.

Adam was sobbing, and I was about to open the door to ask him what was wrong when I suddenly felt wary and scared. Not scared of him or for him, but my love was crying, something I'd never seen on this scale, and he was doing it purposefully in the bathroom. He hadn't _wanted_ me to hear him breaking down. And bit my lip as I slowly slinked back into our room. Adam must feel like a failure over not being able to settle Eva down, very much like how I had felt the two days she'd done it to me. Hell I had cried in frustration and anger, so I could completely understand his actions.

I found it odd the next morning when he wasn't next to me, cuddled close to me as he always had been ever since our first night at my flat. Looking around the house he was nowhere, so I called his mobile. It went straight to voicemail, and I frowned worried. I left him a message saying as much and quickly hung up as Eva started to stir.

Dropping Eva off at my dad's before heading to work I started to get more concerned about where Adam had gone so early in the morning. I called him every chance I could at work, whenever my boss wasn't nearby, and it always went straight to voicemail. There was a prickling in the back of my mind that started to panic.

I was starting to feel anxious and worried by time I finished my workday. Talking to my dad about it made me feel better. Adam could have just run out of battery. He was supposed to be off today but he loved his job, so he could very well have gone into the office early.

By dinner time I was in hysterics so I called Tiff. When her kind but unhelpful advice made me feel worse, I called Rachel.

She was highly worried about the odd behavior I'd described and told me to keep her updated and to talk to the police.

.~.

He was gone. Just like he was back on a business trip it seemed. His things were still around the house, but his scent had started fading from things.

Tiff had come to stay with me for two weeks after Adam hadn't come back for almost three weeks. And I couldn't stop crying over the loss of my love in my life. Eva didn't seem to be aware of the change and her young nonsensical sounds that would one day be words seemed to make my heart ache more. Adam would never have left us, that much I was certain. Something had happened to him.

The police hadn't taken his case seriously at first, but when he was still missing after three days they started looking into it more thoroughly. The morning he'd disappeared half of his bank account had been emptied, and it was a substantial amount. But other than that he'd had no credit card activity, no mobile phone activity either.

His sister came down while Tiff was staying with me. Whether or not they got along I never noticed, I was too deep in my grief over my love being gone. The fact there was no note no goodbye led me to believe he hadn't killed himself. I felt it was more likely he somehow had run into some sort of trouble. Crazy ideas ran through my head, and they were all to help me cope or perhaps ignore the fact he'd left me. Left us, Eva and I.

Her first birthday came and went. And I cried. I prayed every night Adam would come back, perhaps even with an explanation as to why he'd left at all. I loved him enough to accept any explanation he would give; I could forgive him too as long as he _came back._

.~.

When she was two I put on a recording of her dad singing to me on my birthday, so she could see who her 'da' was. She giggled and slapped the TV screen. And even though her words weren't perfectly formed she started trying to sing along with him. I played that video for her often after that, and it became a sort of painful yet blissful sin I partook in. Watching them sing together like this ripped at my soul, but I never let her see me cry.

I made raising her my top priority after keeping a decent job. My dad died and left me his small place, which I sold and put the money aside for Eva's college fund. As much as I missed both of my parents I missed Adam more.

It was shortly after her fourth birthday that I decided I'd waited long enough, and the hope I had carried around like a candle had burnt out, reaching the end of its wick. I took Eva's birth certificate and a legal application to change her name in just before Christmas.

If I was going to raise her on my own, she was damn well going to have my last name too. Because as much as I loved Adam, and always would, I wanted my daughter to hear her last name and think of the parent that was still around to love her and take care of her.

Evangeline Violet Knight had a sort of Superhero ring to it, I thought.

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	2. Before the Cullens

**Panthalassa: Under Current**

**Before the Cullens  
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I heard a banging noise on my wall and frowned at it. I had been _trying_ to do my homework; the noise in the room next to me was driving beyond distraction. I bit my lip and huffed, hunching further over my Trig homework.

Julie was trying to do homework from her spot on the top bunk, but of course she had ear phones in. I wished I hadn't lost the bet about Mr. Conner bringing home Chinese take out for dinner last night, and then I would be the one with my mp3 player and Julie's ear buds in my ears. Instead of listening to the random thumps of Devon in the other room while he was in 'time out'. If you asked me and Julie it was more of a punishment for us than him.

There was no way I was going to hit the wall to yell at the five year old to shut up, because it would very likely have to opposite effect and then I would want to throttle the little demon. His mum probably meant to put Demon on the birth certificate anyway.

Julie and I had to finish up our homework tonight, because if we didn't we wouldn't be allowed to go to this stupid camp Mrs. Jordan wanted us to go to this weekend. I really wasn't that interested in any way shape or form, but as it would get me away from Devon and Brock (Devons little brother) for four days I was trying to get my homework finished. Julie didn't want to spend the weekend alone with the boys, which I thought was a wise decision.

The camp had been planned over the long weekend while teachers in the state went to a conference or something or it was a workshop, I wasn't sure and I didn't care. But it meant that school was over Wednesday that meant a four day weekend. If I didn't finish this Trig homework and a report for History about an inventor between the years 1750-1800 then I would be stuck here.

Not that the camp was much better.

Mrs. Conner was many things she wasn't too kind with her words, but her actions were very sweet. She was a plump thing that waddled, having just gotten over a foot injury that had happened at the bar she and Mr. Conner owned. She knocked on our door and I mumbled a greeting so she could come in.

"Eva I found the bags from Target in the family room behind the couch. Those boys just like hiding things, sorry." She set the bag with new clothes for me on the bed, took a glance at Julie who hadn't looked up from her English homework to acknowledge our foster mom.

Sadly the boys hadn't hidden the purchases from Target. I did. Although I didn't claim the boys had done it I felt no guilt in letting the Conner's think they had.

I had been tricked into getting anything from Target by Mrs. Conner's fast tongue and guilt. She loved to use guilt as her main weapon in her arsenal.

.~.

"Eva, you need new underwear."

"A few stains doesn't mean they aren't clean," I whispered harshly to her, knowing there were other women looking at delicates nearby.

She scoffed and looked up at me before grabbing a package off the shelves.

"Not that anyone from the State will ever look at your under things Eva, but I feel like I am not doing my job taking care of you when you have so many stained and ripped pieces of clothing." I crinkled my nose and turned away from her, letting her think she won, when in reality I was upset because she mentioned taking care of me being her _job_.

Jobs were usually something you did because you had to, to earn money. Foster parents didn't get enough from the State for taking care of foster kids for it to pay off doing. In fact I was pretty sure I was costing the Conner's money, and I hated it. I hated that she felt like it was her_ job_ to buy me things. Rather than it being pleasure because she actually cared about me in some way.

I didn't argue at that point in time any further than that because we were on a tight schedule. I had to work that night at the bar in Chetek and if I put up a fuss I would have made us late to drop me off.

When I got home the bag with my purchases had been on my bed. I set it down stairs behind the couch in the middle of the night. Out of site out of mind for me, it was pretty juvenile, but I hadn't really thought of other ideas.

When the morning came Mrs. Conner asked about my new shoes, which were in the bag, and I mentioned not having seen them at all. She didn't have the best memory so she thought she left them down stairs. Then when she couldn't find them, she blamed her son Joey, and Devon for their disappearance.

.~.

Back to the here and now Mrs. Conner was hovering by my bed where Han's Solo was.

"Did you talk to Richard?" she asked turning back to me.

"I did, two weeks ago," I said, trying not to be rude, but at the same time knowing she was only asking because she didn't want to have an issue with Mr. Kasey calling her Friday night when I didn't show up for my set. "He's advertised a Karaoke night with half priced beer; hopefully it won't alienate the usual crowd."

"Well," she said slightly deflated, as if my forethought was disappointing. "Did you need any help packing?" she asked.

This time Julie popped one of the ear buds out of her ears and looked down at our foster mom.

"No, I'm good. I'm just bringing one bag." I said, trying to sound cheerful. Mrs. Conner gave me a wide grin.

"Is the load of whites done?" Julie asked.

"Almost, should be done in about 5 minutes if you want to come down for your things. Eva help with dinner would be nice." She added the bit as if it had been an afterthought. It was the classic parent, foster or regular, way to make you feel guilty if you didn't help. Because they didn't ask you but the guilt of not helping could be used the rest of the night.

Once Mrs. Conner took her leave, Julie and I shared a look. She rolled her eyes and went back to her English; I finished the last two of my problems and closed up my companion Math book, and sent the file to my math teacher, before docking the old touch screen back in its charger.

.~.

When eating with three little boys at the table it was common, if not expected, for them to be as annoying as god would allow.

The boys listened and stopped goofing off by showcasing their half eaten food while still in their mouths when Mrs. Conner threatened to not take them on the trip to the zoo during the weekend.

Brock was only three but took after his brother and tried to act like him as frequently as possible. So Devon would try to impress his little brother with the most annoying things and then he'd get in trouble for it. Brock would then emulate his big bro and also get in trouble. But what Devon lacked in cuteness Brock had in spades, also Brock was much more innocent. So while Devon had been in time out for the hour prior dinner, Brock was watching "Miggs the Magician" on TV.

He was wiggling in his seat because he didn't want to eat the mash potatoes I'd helped make. And as I was a teenager and sitting next to him it was my assignment to help feed him. I usually didn't even try, but tonight Mr. Conner was eating with us, so I had to at least make an attempt.

I thought I made a breakthrough when Brock ate a large spoon full of the potatoes, only to watch him imitate Devon and punch his blown up cheeks and spurt the white stuff out. He and Devon and Joey were having a giggling fit. It was at that point I gave up trying to feed the little boy. Let him starve for all I care. Kid doesn't need to waste anymore food by throwing it, or spitting it out.

"Eva," Julie called after me as I was heading upstairs from helping clean up dinner. I turned halfway towards her on the steps. The floorboard under me creaked in a high pitch.

"Did you think about the date?" she asked, her dark thin eyebrows pinching together.

To be honest, I hadn't given her boyfriends proposed double date a second thought after he asked me a week ago at lunch. The friend he was trying to set me up with was on the wrestling team and had a neck almost bigger than his head, which for the record is not an attractive feature. Also his friend, Rudy, had those weird wrestlers' ears that looked funky.

"Oh, yeah… sorry Julie. I don't think I-"

"-I figured as much..." she sighed, interrupting me, and she didn't even sound mad about it.

Maybe she knew how I liked looking at boys, but the idea of dating one really annoyed me.

"Sorry Julie," I shook my head as I continued up to our room, she followed behind me.

We were packing for camp, well I should say Julie was packing, I was just throwing any random clothes that were clean into my bag.

I watched as she packed the framed photo of her and her mother in her bag. She always took it wherever she went. When I asked about it when she first moved in, she told me that it was just a habit. I couldn't really fathom a habit like that, but it made Julie happy so I wasn't really too opinionated on the mater.

There was a loud noise outside our room, then the door burst open and I saw Devon grinning like a mad man.

"You've got shit hair Eva!" He yelled while laughing, I heard Mrs. Conner shout something from down stairs. I narrowed my eyes and him and made a startling move towards him, as if I'd attack, and he flinched.

Realizing his error he sneered at me.

"Devon go back and help Mrs. Conner, before I tell her you used a curse word," Julie scolded him. He made another face, but before he could do anything else I slammed the door in his face and locked it. I heard a thump just after shutting the door, then crying. Devon must have fallen on his ass after the door pushed him.

"God I hate kids," I murmured going back to my stuff.

Julie gave me lame smile and shook her head.

"For the record I think you have a very pretty shade of hair. It looks like a golden wood color," she mused while looking at me. I shrugged.

"Thanks Julie. I still hate kids though." I joked, she actually laughed at that.

.~.

It was two AM and Julie was sound asleep, while I on the other hand wasn't. I must have better hearing than she did because Brock was crying up a storm. Mrs. Conner would come check on him and calm him down. Then Devon would feel neglected and start fussing. I would start to drift off, and then Devon would do _something_ to his brother and start the whole thing over again.

I put my pillow over my ear and started to hum to myself. The boys had been having a really hard time adjusting to sleeping here. They had arrived about five days ago, and the first two nights had thought it was some sort of sleep over. But when Devon realized they wouldn't be going back to their dad he threw a fit of epic proportions.

I was actually impressed with how fast the kid figured it out. My situation had been different so even from the first night at the Johnsons when I was 10 I knew that I wouldn't be going home until they found my mum.

His third day Devon had gotten in to my and Julies room, went through our stuff and royally pissed me off. I had a small collection of beads and half pairs of earrings. It was a small habit I'd picked up somewhere along the way. Once in I would see one earring on the ground say at school or something, and I'd hang on to it. I never really wore jewelry but it was neat to see all the mismatched pairs. It did make me wonder about how sock pairs got separated though. Devon had found the box where I kept all the odds and ends and threw it across my room.

Mrs. Conner guilted me into picking it up instead of having Devon do it by saying, "Dear you know how hard this kind of change can be for someone so young."

My rebuttal had been waved off.

So here I was, three nights of minimal sleep, and two annoying foster siblings that were being treated like angels. It was grating on my patience. And as I had a lot of apathy for most things _most_ of the time, anything that encroached on me getting a good night's sleep went on my shit list pretty quickly.

When morning came I made breakfast for Julie and I. Mrs. Conner was still asleep, as were the boys. Mr. Conner had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room.

By time Julie and I had finished eating the French toast and cleaning up the dishes we heard the first noises of others getting up for the day.

"Good morning girls," Mr. Conner said sleepily, yawning. We greeted him, and once Julie finished the crossword she went to take a shower.

"Did you see the article about President Gould?" I asked shifting the paper so he could see.

He peered over the table, pushing his glasses back up his nose and looked at the part I was showing him. He shook his head sadly at the news before going back to brew some coffee.

"He's going to drag us into the middle of a war. I can tell you right now, he thinks that the last ten years of peace-" he cut himself off and shook his head again.

"I remember when the USA used to have troops all over the world…" I thought aloud, looking back to the article that talked about the President's speech in front of congress for our troops to be deployed to the middle east.

From what I understood after President Obama literally sunk the financial health of the country down the drain there had been dramatic changes in the federal budget. Congress and Obama's successor President Paul, had massively scaled back the military operations across the globe. The USA of today was no longer the nanny of the world from ten years ago.

I didn't like talking politics much with people, everyone seemed very defensive of their position, and if you didn't agree with them they'd look at you like you were some sort of monster. But Mr. Conner was cool, he just stated facts, sometimes I'd wondered if he actually had an opinion on political matters. It was one of the two things I ever talked about with him.

Politics and cars. He loved to talk with me about cars, even though half the time I was just staring at him with a blank look that clearly stated everything he was trying to teach me was going right over my head.

I looked around the Conner's home as I made my way down stairs with my bag and Hans Solo. There was nothing particularly wrong with their house. It was decently sized and decorated, but it still felt so temporary even if I had been here for over a year. Julie was already in the car with Mrs. Conner. She would be driving us to the courthouse where the bus would be to take us up to the camp.

I got in the back and rested my head against the window as we drove away. I was certain this camp was going to be stupid and tiresome with all the adults trying to "figure" us foster kids out.

As much as I didn't want to go, when I saw Devon and Brock throwing rocks at the fence in the yard as we pulled away, I was more than happy to get away for a while.

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	3. Autumn Leaves

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction intended for entertainment purposes only. The characters and world belong to Stephenie Meyer, I just like playing with them.

AN: This is a little outtake I wrote when I first started the story. This chapter is roughly 2 weeks after her 18th birthday with the Cullens (Low Tide) It has reference to a photograph mentioned in the later chapters of Low Tide.

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****Low Tide: Autumn Leaves- October 15th 2024**  
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While the main house did not in fact have what a normal person would call a yard, Seth had a substantial one around his place. The leaves had mostly fallen off the trees around his property, and I was excited, as I always was at this time of year to rake up the leaves.

After school, two weeks after my birthday I was helping Seth rake up his leaves. I had changed into a long thicker cotton dress with leggings, and heavy boots. A grey loose cardigan had completed the look Alice's words, not mine. And I was enjoying the slight crisp feel of the air as the sun set.

"I thought I saw you raking last week Seth…" I stated in confusion as I pulled another line of leaves towards me. I loved the sound of a rake rustling the dry leaves; it reminded me a bit of a maraca.

"I was… and I thought I was done," he sighed sadly and looked towards the woods angrily.

It took me a moment to guess as to what happened to make him have to re-rake the leaves.

"Emmett?" I asked.

Seth laughed, loudly, and leaned a bit on his tool while looking at his pile of leaves.

"Why does everyone always assume it was him?" he asked, still laughing. I watched him, a little mesmerized at his teak colored skin and his bright white teeth.

"Well," I hesitated, and had to analyze the reasons why I had assumed it was Emmett. "It almost always is Emmett, and it does seem like something he'd do."

"True, I guess I can't argue with statistics."

"Or logic." I quipped.

"From what I can gather it was actually the girls this time."

"Really? I asked shocked.

"It's hard to tell, the scents are all over the place, but it could be just to throw me off." He started raking two piles together.

"Has this happened before?" I asked, while moving my small pile towards the bigger one Seth was setting up.

"Last year. But it was Jasper and Edward." Seth told me with an offhanded air. It seemed like he wasn't really all that upset at the fact he had to clean leaves off his lawn again.

It was quiet for a while except for the sounds of our tools scraping on the grass and the leaves moving against one another.

Seth had put most of the small piles I was putting together into a bigger one, I hadn't seen a pile of leaves this big in a long time, and I without much thought I dropped my rake and jumped into the pile, laughing until I made contact with the leaves. I didn't want a repeat of when I was 12 and had been laughing with a big open mouth and almost inhaled some dried decaying leaves.

I dove and swam through the leaves, and I heard Seth laughing a little at my antics.

"Eva, come on you spread the pile half way across the lawn again," he chuckled, and I popped my head out of the pile and to my dismay I realized he was right. I saw something off to my left, and froze in place when I saw it was Bella with a camera.

"What-When?" I asked while moving to stand.

"Just a moment ago, thought this might be a good opportunity to get a couple good pictures," her smile was bedazzling and I grinned as I dusted the leaves off my clothes and out of my hair.

She helped get the rest of the leaves, and the sun was just kissing the horizon when we finished. Bella didn't feel the need to move at a human pace like Seth and I had been, so we were finished rather quickly.

"You know what would be really nice," I sighed whistfully looking back towards Seth's house. "I nice warm cuppa hot cider."

I turned back to look at Bella, and she nodded thoughtfully.

"I think Esme may have some back at the main house, should I go get it?" she asked.

"I can get it Bella," Seth said, "I can pick up the canvas sacks for the leaves while I am there."

I watched Seth go off towards the main house, and although he wasn't as fast as a vampire on two feet, he was faster than any Olympic runner I'd ever seen.

Bella and I shared a look over the pile of leaves. I must have had a pleading look in my eye because she rolled hers and gestured to the leaves again. The pile was too tempting for me; it was almost at eye height. So I took a few steps back to get a running jump into the pile.

I leapt into it and sank a little in it; I could see the leaves that were pushed into the air with my force slowly falling back down as if they were pieces of rubble from a building that had just been blown up.

Laying there in the pile I laughed as Bella blurred around grabbing the leaves from the air only to toss them at me.

Suddenly I felt something grabbing me from inside the pile.

I screamed loudly, feeling myself getting pulled in deeper. I couldn't see Bella, but when I realized she wasn't coming to my rescue, that it was because it was supposed to be _funny_.

Except that it wasn't, I was completely terrified for that split second when I hadn't known who was grabbing me. Angrily, while still in the pile I wiggled and whined trying to get away.

"Dammit Jasper!" I said while he turned up the emotion of happy on me once I had escaped him.

Trying really hard to hold on to the annoyance while Bella and Seth laughed at my red cheeks, the leaves still clinging to my clothes, I gave Jasper a pouty glare. Jasper looked only slightly ashamed he'd scared me and put his hands up in surrender.

Once I had a nice cup of hot cider in my hands, and was sitting in front of the fire Seth had made in his fire pit I was naturally in a better mood. Seth offered me a marshmallow from the stick he had used to cook it and I leaned forward to eat it right off the stick so my hands wouldn't get all gooey. That earned a chime like giggle from Bella.

I was still a little sore about what Jasper had done, but when Bella showed me her professional quality photos of the moment I couldn't be too upset. Either it was a vampire thing, or Bella had a knack for it, but the photo's she'd taken of me with the leaves looked like they could be in a spread for some fashion magazine. If only my hair was longer and my nose wasn't so tiny.

There were a couple pictures of Jasper picking me up from behind just under the chest and spinning me around. We both looked so happy, I asked Bella for a copy of it, which I think made Jasper happy.

Putting my mug back on the table I picked up my Government course book, to study a bit while listening to the crackling of the fire and Jasper's conversation with Bella about a possible stock market dip Alice had been seeing.

And despite the fact they were vampires, and Seth was a shapeshifter, the moment felt completely normal.

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	4. Tea Time

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction intended for entertainment purposes only. The characters and world belong to Stephenie Meyer, I just like playing with them.

AN: 2-4-12- Update to Under Current while I am working on High Tide. This chapter is placed shortly after Evangeline comes back to the Cullen's after the summer away.

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_**September 7th 2025-**_

My eyes felt dry and I had a head ache from reading all of the random news articles online all night. I was debating going to sleep at around one am.

It was my first night back at the main house, and my old bedroom felt more like a distant memory than a place of comfort. Other than some light dusting Esme hadn't changed a single thing. The clothes were still in my hamper from before I had gone on the camping trip. The small pile of school items still scattered around the floor as a reminder of the night our family broke apart.

I stepped over the pile on my way out of the room, briefly remembering the pain I'd experienced that night.

As expected the family was active. Jasper, Bella, Jake and Emmett could be heard down the hall from the living room playing billiards, and Edward was nowhere to be seen.

Carlisle sat at the kitchen bar, wearing his usual khaki pants but instead of a collared shirt he had on a t-shirt from one of his many alma maters. He acknowledged me with a small smile when he looked up from his book. I glanced at the spine to see the title as I walked to the fridge, but it looked like Russian or something so I sighed in mild frustration.

The sound of water filling the empty kettle filled the kitchen, and I put it on the stove top after switching the heat on. I turned and jumped slightly when I noticed Carlisle was watching me intently.

"What?" I asked a little defensively. The fringe on the towel by the sink garnered my attention as I waited for him to answer.

"I've missed your scent," he said measuredly. I would have been a fool not to hear the pain and longing laced in his reverent voice.

"Raspberries, right?" I stated, in more of conversational tone, as there wasn't anything I felt like adding to the fact he was saying he missed me.

Humming his agreement with my fragrance he closed his book, and I redoubled my effort to examine the kitchen towel.

"I was worried about you, out there after you'd left. I think you may have actually succeeded in giving me a couple grey hairs while you've been away…"

My shoulder made a little jerk like motion as if by instinct I was rebuffing the fact that, while they had certainly hurt me, I had hurt them as well. Even if they deserved it, I didn't want it thrown back in my face.

"Yeah well… there you are," I said non-commitally. I looked back to the kettle and then Carlisle again; his eyes were tinged with a little gold.

"You've grown as well." He gave me a tentative smile and I gave him a small one back.

"You can see that?" I lamely asked.

Nodding he rested his elbows on the counter.

"I am constantly amazed in the little and big ways you've changed since I've met you. And it-" he paused, and it was very odd to see him struggle for words, as Carlisle always seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say.

"It makes me more aware than ever the fact that we will never change."

This thought although true, saddened me a bit to hear him talk about it.

"If you hadn't changed them, they would have died." I quietly said while I started looking for the tea leaves I was going to use, and my mug. Finding my mug in the cupboard where it usually sat made my heart ache a bit.

"Sometimes I wonder if I had been right to do such a thing. It seems lately I have been doing a lot of thinking on my actions."

"Self reflection is always good." I quipped before I could stop myself. Thankfully my back was still turned from him, and he didn't see me wince at my own abruptness.

The conversation seemed dead in the water as I set my tea supplies on the counter, I was at a right angle from Carlisle and I gave him a small curious look.

"It is hard for me to imagine taking your human life away while you are… healthy and happy the way you are."

"Me too," I nodded. "But it won't be anytime soon."

"True. But it is a constant concern because Alice had seen you as one of us long before-before you came to live with us."

_Smooth_, I thought. He avoided mentioning the lies or the gold-eyes or any of it. _Fine,_ we'll just let it lay in the past for the night then.

"I was curious about that too… does it mean somebody else would have-you know- changed me?"

"It must. But the situation leading up to that now nonexistent future, are completely unknown," he supplied. His caring and worried tone made me feel a little more at ease with this conversation.

Carlisle briefly explained that they didn't know if the future with me being changed by another vampire had disappeared simply because they hadn't given up the idea of changing me themselves. Therefore they didn't know if I could still be randomly changed or if there was a reason or purpose behind it.

"Purpose? Like what you were going to use me for, some other vampire could have-you know- figured it out too?"

Carlisle grimaced delicately at my abrupt way of categorizing their reason for taking me in.

The kettle started whistling so I turned the burner off and looked interestedly at him.

"Nothing quite like that had really ever been seriously considered. As the only vampire we know of that has any sort of ability to see if you'd have potential as a human is Eleazar, and he would be highly unlikely to change anyone. It has been discussed that in the _other_ future your mate would have changed you."

Shocked I made a near inaudible noise in my throat.

"Mate?" I scoffed, and the idea did seem a little bit out of left field. It had never even occurred to me that _I'd_ have a mate when I was a vampire. Let alone a mate that could already exist out there somewhere, just waiting for me. Much like Edward had been waiting for Bella.

Carlisle seemed to enjoy my bewilderment and he gave me a grin that was growing, before nodding seriously. Taking a sip of my tea, I reveled in the fact it was perfect and it soothed my throat from the dryness I'd felt earlier.

"Which is why we were concerned when you left. Alice and Edward confirmed that the vision she originally had of you as one of us, you weren't much older than you are now, but it is hard for them to tell exactly how much older you were."

My human life and my vampire life seemed to be living parallel now that I had chosen a different path, and I frowned while sipping my tea realizing that in that other future blood would be the only thing I could consume, and I bristled against the very idea.

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	5. When you left

AN: Hello all. This chapter of Under Current is dedicated to two entities. Firstly all those who have read my fan fictions, mostly Panthalassa, and reviewed. This fic is the 'reward' for the 100th review. Secondly this is for Geriana, my #1 fan, thank you.

One more thing. I found it both hard and easy to write this chapter, as it is from a Cullen POV, please let me know if I did it justice.

**Panthalassa : Under Current**

**When you left**

From the first second I saw her, Evangeline set me on edge. Most of my problem with her was the problem I had with all young women. She had her whole life ahead of her. My bitterness towards her potential mounted later that same evening as we heard her voice echoing across the lake.

My Emmett had curled me against his side while we lay on the pine needles and fallen leaves in the forest. Each individual piece of debris calculated and summarily ignored. We heard her approach far before she arrived at the docks edge. There was a crisp anger in me that turned into a sort of appreciation once she started singing.

I hated her in a different way after that. Of the few memories I had from my human life, the ones that weren't focused so concisely on Royce and his contemptuous acts, I had none of my mother. Evangline's singing reminded me of the years after my change and the trips Emmett and I would take to spy on what remained of my family. My mother, not the best at cooking, or darning, was a great entertainer and social climber. She was aided in this by her unique and full singing voice. And watching her through the dark, where no human had any possible way to know they were being observed, I felt the stirrings of yearning for long dead family members.

I didn't warm to her, not really. I felt a little bit of repulsion at what that Sophila girl had done to her, and thirst when I smelled her raspberry scented blood.

And to be honest the only reason I accepted the idea of her coming to live with us hadn't just been because she'd suffered, had a child, and needed the family as much as I ever did. It was because she reminded me of my own mother. Even if _I_ didn't care about Evangeline, I felt odd warmth in my long dead heart at the thought of her being _cared_ for.

That being the case, it wasn't enough for me to make any attempt to go out of my way to entertain her or to try and bond with her. In one fashion I didn't like that she was becoming the darling of the Cullen clan. Her future ability to save our lives was what kept me from constantly making snide comments to her.

In deference I avoided being alone with her. Using Jasper and Emmett as constant buffers, to be sure I didn't have to face that pathetic and awkward situation.

I could easily admit that since Nessie's birth I had changed from my constantly bitter and angry outlook towards humans, and especially human females. I was still what Edward would call "As shallow as a puddle", but I _could_ be more forgiving. Evangeline annoyed me in an understandable way that almost had me regretting her coming to live with us at all. Her aversion to babies baffled me until Edward explained it later, and although it left a very unsavory taste, so to speak, in my mouth I swallowed my contempt at her for her naiveté.

I loathed her importance in the family. I grew to hate the state foster care system for which I knew had caused her so much pain, because if she had been properly taken care of she would be with a human family right now.

Alice maneuvered the one and only time I was forced to be alone with Evangeline. Going shopping for some things Esme needed for cookies, had been just about as unfriendly an interaction we could have together. For the first time since her moving in to the room in the main house did I really see what Evangeline was all about.

Staying away from her let me keep my assumptions about her, even if I could hear all the interactions with the others in the family, or see them first hand. In the store with her slowly pushing the squeaky cart in front of us reminded me of a kind of simplicity that could be enjoyed simply because you had loved ones.

She asked me about my human life with careful words. I could tell the outing was as awkward for her as it was for me. Being charitable I told her of Royce and my yearnings for a family of my own. Once in the car on the way home she didn't question me further, which I was thankful for.

After that incident I found myself enjoying her company rather than just being tolerable of it. I still didn't seek her out, as it did still bring petty jealousy out in me, but I did actively try not to take it out on her.

It wasn't until she'd left the house in a rage that I could blearily understand, that I began to realize how much I'd become accustomed to her. And if there was one thing that bothered me more than anything it was an unwelcome change.

.~.

I angrily beat on the fender of the mustang I was rebuilding. I heard Emmett's SUV pulling into the drive way and I instantly yearned for any distraction from my obsessive and completely useless thoughts.

Evangeline may have been right about a few things, but she was for the most part being completely unreasonable and selfish.

I threw the dirty smock I'd been wearing to the wastebasket as I left the garage. Emmett pulled up just as I came outside.

"You'll never believe it!" He beamed jumping happily out of the SUV just as it stopped.

My body relaxed seeing him so happy. I instantly had a small contented smile for him. He picked me up by the waist an instant later and I asked him what the news was.

"She's singing again." He stated, his glee flowing in excess out of him.

I heard Esme gasp from her study and instantly she was at the front door watching us. Emmett turned to share his smile with her, while I crossly extracted myself from his arms.

"She's been singing for the last nine days. Bella reported her practicing last week." I huffed. Really, though, I wasn't surprised. Even when she wasn't around it was all about her. It seemed that our futures weren't just dependant on her, but our happiness.

"Bella said she was _practicing_. This time she was making dinner. I heard it. It was…" he paused and looked joyfully back to Esme, "She sounded like she used to."

I rolled my eyes in distaste, when really I was a little relieved as well.

From about the third week of her living with us Evangeline had developed an oddness that Edward swore she wasn't aware of.

Evangeline loved to sing, and even I could appreciate how well she did sing. She would sing in front of us, practiced songs, but when she was alone she would sing or hum silly little made up songs that usually did not make sense. The part that made everyone in the family swoon with affection was the fact she didn't even _know_ she was doing it.

Edward explained it as if it was an automatic thing for her to do, she only was aware of singing when she was around someone. It became a gauge of her emotional state depending on the tone of the song. Emmett's favorite had been one she'd made up back in March after a midterm, which he titled, "2+2=I don't give a fuck". Everyone had a favorite, except me of course because although it was endearing on one level, her having this little amusing singing while unawares thing, it also was rather childish.

Esme begged me to switch watching duties with her, which I was happy to do. I had been switching with Jasper, Bella, and Esme as often as I could. We had agreed to watch her from afar, to be sure one of us was near should she need us. I had done it once, for roughly 48 hours before it felt wrong, and I got bored. She'd basically recovered from her injuries and moved in to the dingy apartment. Not exactly something I cared to watch. She was needlessly struggling because of her pride. I could logically understand it but that didn't mean I liked having to put up with it.

.~.

It had been almost 8 weeks since she'd left, and it was my turn to watch her again. I'd come to understand something about her that perhaps I hadn't wanted to. She saw what we'd done to her as much of a horrible thing as her own rape. I would be lying to myself if I didn't at least admit that my resistance to getting close to her was because I didn't want to associate the fact we were going to use her with the emotional ramifications of what that would do to someone like her.

She had gotten a boyfriend, which Alice approved of, and Bella liked, but everyone else was wary of the relationship. She was playing regularly, and Jasper had just reported her going to a women's support group.

My frustration at her had built up over the last two months, but at that news I began to feel some emotions I hadn't in my immortal life. I felt hope.

I listened to her second meeting with the women. I could hear her determination and frailty, but I could feel the hope in her words, as she asked them what to do about her in ability to let another human man touch her. I'd been jealous of her humanity for the exact reason she was showing in that room. She could change. She could grow. She could move on from what had happened in her past. And although I hated that I couldn't do the same, as I watched her get into her motorbike the twinges of relief spiraled through me.

It began to rain as I sat in my car listening to her go about her habits. I realized it then, that she would forgive us, after her meeting with the support group.

I sat there, listening, all the while remembering the happiness the family had come to know since she'd moved in with us. I could now see the fragile happy little girl from those home videos as the same broken girl simply trying to rebuild a life so destroyed by others. Bitterness awoke in me for my own stupidity. My own selfishness at not wanting to feel guilt, of all the stupid things, drove a wall between Evangeline and myself.

We were so alike, and seeing that she was changing caused a tight ache inside me, but I felt more than that. I felt _proud_ of her. I felt as if maybe I didn't need to hold onto that guilt because she would be okay. She wasn't _just_ some human girl. She wasn't _just_ some tool. And I _knew_ that, I had always known that. But I hadn't ever really _let_ myself remember what that meant.

She and I were alike. Stubborn. At that thought my eyes roamed Carlisle's car and saw something in the in the cubby hole under the heat control. Even before my hand touched it I knew what it was, and feeling it in my hand I knew what I had to do. I put the necklace in the jacket pocket as I left the car firmly deciding to leave my phone in the car as I exited, a vague purpose in my movements.

She needed us. She was one of us. Evangeline was likely focusing on the fact we betrayed her trust. It was what I would do in her situation. Once broken trust was hard to earn back, but she had to let us, as a family, _try_. Evangeline hadn't had a family in a long time. She had always seemed a bit out of sorts, but still managed to find a place to fit in. I had to remind her what a family was all about, whether I was the best person for the job, I think everyone would agree I wasn't but I found myself dripping on the moldy carpet in front of her apartment door.

I heard her sigh inside, and the light scratching of a pencil on paper, she was writing lyrics as Alice had told us was a new hobby for her. I hesitated with my fist at the ready.

She needed someone to fight _for_ her. No one ever fought for me, they had used me in my human life and that had led me to the life I was living now. Evangeline didn't need someone to fight her battles for her, she just needed someone to not push her away when things got rough, like so many people had done all her life.

So I knocked.

If there was one thing I was good at, it was not backing down.

..~..

V  
>V<br>V 


	6. First Meetings

**Panthalassa : Under Current  
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**First Meetings  
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Long before I had been born, and ages before Shizuka had even been created, Toji was sitting high in the mountains near what today is called Akita. One of the 'old ones' as the rest of the covens called them. All of the currently alive Japanese vampires were brought in to this world by either the man that raised me, Kenji, or my biological father Kaneyasu. Old ones were considered any that were changed by my father. As he had been killed over two hundred years ago, before he even knew I existed, it was considered an honor to have him as your creator.

All that was, was a bunch of nonsensical hero worship for a crazed vampire that took scientific study to horrific lengths. Knowing what kind of man my father truly was made me appreciate Kenji all the more.

I hadn't asked _why_ the four of us were assembled at one of the many mansions we owned throughout Japan, or why Toji was out enjoying the onsen as we waited for him.

Shizuka was even here for this meeting, which didn't really surprise me, but it was unexpected as she had been following Wei around for nearly three years straight. She was in her natural state, invisible, randomly flipping through the stacks of comic books Toji liked to keep around.

Kenji was standing in front of the painting Toji must have had since the 1400's. Kenji' had stolen it off of a caravan in what is now Turkey, after he'd fed off of the humans that had been leading it.

"Look up," Toji said breezily as he glided by without a stitch of clothing on.

Shizuka entered my range and appeared, looking very much like a mix between a pop star and the mad hatter. She had braids in her hair and was wearing her usual wool half coat that looked like pianist's jacket. It was lime green and had dark navy blue pinstripes down it. Even though I did love her as if she were a sister, or even a mother type figure I could appreciate her beauty.

She had been changed as she had being dying due to complications of child labor. She was sixteen. Kenji and Kaneyasu had wanted to wait until she was older. But as they only visited her village once or twice a year to check up on her and the family they had bribed into taking care of her, they knew little of the deals her foster family had made. She'd been married off and conceived within the time it took the two of them to check on her again. They killed her husband and took her away, only to hear the fluttering heartbeat within her. Kenji wanted to wait for the child to be born, perhaps let Shizuka grow a little older. Kaneyasu did not have the patience or desire to stay around a human female for that long and left Kenji to take care of the female they both agreed to change at one point.

Toji had directed Kaneyasu back to Kenji just two days before Shizuka was to die. The child was a still birth and Kaneyasu had barely been able to control himself long enough to change her. Kenji had stayed with her the entire time it took to change.

Of course with her ability once changed she could have disappeared forever, but over her lifetime of having Kenji and Kaneyasu watching over her she had developed a sort of crush on both of them, thinking they were gods. So when she awoke as an immortal she promised to follow them and do as they instructed.

Even with her ability Shizuka was not subtle when able to be seen. Her eyes were ruby red and just as expressive as any human childs'.

"You need to go to America, leave tomorrow." Toji said still stark naked.

Still looking at the painting my father nodded once, as if this was a normal thing. In fact Kenji, out of all of us, seemed to really understand Toji's mysterious predications. Toji had been a drunk in his village, drunk because he'd lost his wife and children to a tsunami wave while he'd been hunting in the hills. That much, I knew, had created a bond between them. Kenji had had a family at one point, although he never really talked to me about his human life, I could tell he missed them.

"I love Americans!" I cheered smiling brightly. And I did, they were tasty! Full of fatty grease and rich salts.

"You won't be feeding on anyone in America. Seek out a coven of animal eaters." Toji sucked on his teeth and did the only human habit he could easily mimic and picked at his ear with his pinky finger.

"Golden eyes?" Shizuka asked serenely. I shifted to stand closer to her, and Kenji was still not facing Toji as he stood on the middle of the large sparsely decorated room.

"Yes, one of them will have information on Zhan and her-well they'll have information."

"How clear was the vision you've had? Are there any other details?" Kenji asked finally turning to look at the old looking vampire. Toji had been well into his fifties when he'd been changed.

"Clearer than most."

Which meant that there was a high likely hood this vision would have rapid or immediate results when followed.

"Your future mate will be there," Toji said closing his eyes, and I knew him well enough to know he was not directing it at any of us specifically because he didn't _know_ whose mate it would be.

Shizuka hoped it was her and jumped up and down like the teenager she was.

"A Gaijin? One of _our_ mates?" her brilliant smile turned to look at Kenji and myself. I shrugged.

"You need to speak to the blonde vampire. Watch out for white knights Ichiro, and listen to Kenji Shizuka. Also feed before you leave."

I loved Toji, I really did. Never a dull moment with him, even when we sparred in the woods to keep our skills up he was funny. I had no idea what a white knight had to do with anything, but I suspected I would know when it came up.

"Any advice for me?" the smile in Kenji's voice was plain as night.

"Promises are not something to take lightly, sometimes to drive the sincerity home physical contact is needed. Being alone with the blonde will be beneficial for the future. And wear the Navy suit." Kenji nodded.

I really loved Toji.

.~.

We, of course, had been prepared in case the attacks that Toji had seen happening around the world and the allied covens had been brought to wait out the attacks together in Osaka. It really was straining on all of us to be gathered. But mutual respect for Kenji and Toji, as well as understanding that we would all be returning to our hunting grounds kept the twitchy territorial sides from boiling to the surface. There were twenty of us in the allied covens. Shizuka, Kenji, Toji and I belong to the leader coven, as it was called. Our decisions were law on the islands. The sixteen others enjoyed their feeding privileges and lives too much to go against us. None of the others except of Kimi, a female that had been changed in her mid thirties, had any sort of ability. She could re create any noise she's heard. But if you listened closely you could tell it was her, or at least I could because of my ability. Kimi was a great impressionist, she once made crank phone calls in Britain pretending to be King George VI, she was immense fun.

After the evening passed where we weren't attacked Kenji left the gathered with instructions to try and group up in larger numbers. Of the 16 of them there were six mated couples. It left the other single four to group up.

"I wish Toji said we could hunt…" Shizuka grumbled after she'd met up with us from finishing her hunt.

"How old?" Kenji asked.

"Seventy-three," she sighed. She wished, as we all did, to feed off a nice young fresh blooded human. But as we were the leaders we couldn't afford _not_ to set the example. Only feeding off of the old or infirm was the policy.

I nudged her, "He said we couldn't feed on _**Americans**_, I don't think I heard anything about Canadians." We shared a coy smile, much like mischievous siblings.

"The animal eaters may not appreciate it." Kenji said firmly, but he too was smiling.

.~.

"Boris said they were living in Wisconsin, just outside of Madison." Shizuka said after we'd found the nomad in Vancouver.

"We won't get there till morning tomorrow, unless we want to take a plane." I explained. None of us wished to torture ourselves by being in an enclosed space with humans so we resumed running.

Shizuka promptly disappeared. We ran high speed for the rest of the night; I could feel the tingle of Shizuka to my left, nearest Kenji as we ran. I was devoted to Kenji, as any son to his father. But Shizuka seemed to idolize him in ways that left my devotion looking a little lame.

We reached the north shore of Lake Superior and decided to feed on a boat of early morning fishermen. There were three of them, nice fatty men under the age of fifty. We sank the boat and as they floated in the water we enjoyed pulling each of our meals down into the cool water with us.

"A soggy meal," I piped happily patting my belly with appreciation in the smooth taste my robust man had filled me with. In fact venom was pooling in my mouth just remembering.

"Maybe we can have a vacation in Canada after we are done here, Zhan and Wei won't be attacking again for a while. It's their cowardly pattern." Shizuka added hopefully.

"The fact they've ordered a massive attack at all says that they are either scared, angry or beginning a new strategy. It is something of great concern." Kenji responded. We are approaching the area Boris said we would find them and as of yet have not run into their scents.

"Wait," Shizuka said as she suddenly turned sharply west.

She stayed visible long enough for us to know to follow her.

A second later we smell them. Two distinct vampire scents. As we go further along the forest thins out a little just before a small highway, Kenji and I pass over it instantly before a human could possibly have a chance to see us, it was still early and this rural roadway seemed sparsely driven on.

The full impact of all the different vampire scents sent my brain a whirl and nearly had me reverting to a very instinctual place.

"Steady Ichiro," Kenji solemnly encouraged. There were eight different scents in the area, all of them fresh and when we came upon a house in a mediocre clearing we both hesitated a second. We caught **five** more bringing a total of _thirteen_ vampires Toji had sent us to.

Sometimes Toji was a dick.

I could hear them shifting about inside the house, conversations dying as they too hear us approach.

"This could be very difficult," I smile. I like challenges. We both hear the heartbeat at the same moment, and I am both fascinated by it, a huge animal eating coven with a human in their dwelling… Curious. I love curiosities.

We start to approach the house and I stretch my ability out to see if Shizuka is sticking to Kenji's side. I know she won't like the number of vampires Toji has sent us to. Oddly I can't feel her, and just as I am about to tell my father this, I hear it.

"What's Edward heard?" –"Is she okay?" "I didn't hear anything." "Alice can you see it?"

A smooth young male's voice speaks up, "Confused," and he sounds it. I look to Kenji to see his face is tight with concern. This coven is discussing something they can't see, which means… _dammit Shizuka what did you do?_

The human heart beat increases and I hear a quiet feminine voice laced with curiosity, "Is it a ghost attacking me?"

"Shit," we both swear at the same time. We quickly make our way up the front steps of the house and are met by a tall blonde male and a huge bulking dark haired male. Both with hard eyes of gold.

The humans scent is so seducing my eyes close in pleasure as I take it in. _Great_, I think, this is not going to endear us to this coven if all of us want to feed on their pet.

.~.

Despite her unkempt appearance I am almost instantly enthralled with the human Evangeline. I had recognized her instantly as the human the Volturi decided to keep alive because of the black vampire. She looked much healthier and I could see a little life behind her eyes that I had not when I told the Volturi they would be doing her a favor by killing her. I am glad they didn't, it was nice to see her happy and healthy.

The Cullen's seem to have a talent at picking those with abilities and my fascination with her grew as we talk about our reasons for being here. Kenji is hardly taking his eyes off of her, but even though I am highly curious over her I find myself looking to the only other unmated female in the room. Tanya makes all other females look like mushrooms in comparison.

Aside from our concern with Shizuka, I personally think she got what she deserved and _almost_ wish I could give the human a high five to congratulate her, I think this trip is completely worth it.

When the human gets hungry we make a polite move to leave while they feed her. It baffles me that she would care about Shizuka or returning her to an active state. I pretty much have no idea what to expect from this trip, and I hope the private conversation goes well.

.~.

"Two single females, both blonde, one still human. Which one of us do you think gets a girl?" I ask once we are a good distance into the thick Wisconsin forest.

"Shizuka has never claimed she liked **only** men," Kenji supplied flatly.

My grin widened and I quickly pressed my lips together to stop from laughing.

"Dad, come _on_. Seriously?"

We stopped near a tiny river, a brook more than a river actually. The sunlight played off our skin and the surface of the water. I could smell a musty scent of rotten deer. The Cullen's must have buried one of their kills nearby. A tickle in my throat let me know there were faint human scents here as well.

He walked up to an old dying maple, half of the branches were dead and he reached out to one just above his head and snapped it off.

"Did you feel anything for either of them?" He asked.

I squinted at him and crossed my arms over my chest, thinking back to Tanya and Evangeline. I liked that Evangeline was still alive, even though I had technically been ordered by my father to kill any humans left. I was certain he was glad I'd failed too. I asked him the question back.

"No," He said solidly locking eyes with me, "However if you do not have any intentions for Evangeline I would like to claim her."

Not sure exactly what he meant, though I had my suspicions I ask, "Claim her?"

"She is still human, and capable of giving me what I have desired since the day you were born."

_Ouch_. Although, not really. After 276 years with Kenji's watchful paternal love guiding me I couldn't begrudge him something he desired deeply.

Kaneyasu was a bastard. To me at least, Kenji told me stories of my father and often I could tell Kenji really loved and respected him. But their relationship was of mutual respect and companionability. Kenji followed Kaneyasu all of his immortal life. And even when they would disagree, Shizuka's fate being a prime example, they would always come back together and roam the world together. The reason my biological father was a bastard was because he hadn't cared for anyone other than himself.

Kaneyasu had always hungered for knowledge and his pursuit of it in his immortal life caused the creation and destruction of nearly 3,000 vampires. Kenji would never admit to me exactly how many people they'd changed to experiment on different aspects of vampirism.

It was nearly 300 years ago that Kaneyasu finally had a random thought, an idea, about human women and vampire men conceiving. As we still had what could technically be called sperm he decided to test his theory and see what happened. He never told Kenji of his experiments because Kenji was truly a kind soul and would have been horrified at what Kaneyasu was doing to young women throughout Japan, China, and Korea. They would hunt separately and meet up about three days later at a designated place.

Each time Kaneyasu would go to a village after feeding off of animals, it was discovered by Kenji and Kaneyasu that those that fed off of animals could control their baser animalistic tendencies easier than when they fed off of humans. Then he would go seek a young woman to seduce.

From what Kenji's can guess Kaneyasu had attempted to successfully ejaculate inside a female and leave her alive for nearly twenty years. It was _easy_ for me, after Kenji told me that, to hate my biological father. Kenji would never admit it to me but I was sure when he discovered the truth and the depravity of his master, creator, teacher, friend and confidant, it broke his heart.

Kenji was a loving soul.

Five years before my birth Kaneyasu and Kenji were looking for humans that might have talents as a vampires. They both could see the signs well enough having tested and re tested their methods for over 1000 years together when they found a young man in Taipei. Wei had been a great disappointing find. They changed him and guided him for two years, but very quickly Kaneyasu felt bitter about the apparently ability-less vampire he had been _certain_ was gifted. Wei and Kenji had formed a loose sort of friendship and trust. However Wei **loathed** Kaneyasu for taking him away from a life of luxury and fine women, as soon as he felt he could handle himself he fled to mainland China.

Kaneyasu had finally succeeded to breed with a human female outside of Kobe, Japan.

When I think about my mother's death and how I was the cause of it I am _not_ angry with myself. I was an infant and if I could have known how to birth myself without ending her life I would have. But my anger at her death has always been solely in Kaneyasu's hands. One measure of comfort I take from her death and giving me life is that her family truly believed she'd married a god and was bearing him a child.

Her last weeks were full of rich furs, rich raw meats and pampering by local Shinto monks. I can still remember the chanting from my place inside her. When I could dream I used to dream about them.

After he had successfully mated with my mother Kaneyasu left to meet up with Kenji. They went for a quick trip to mainland China to enjoy the sites and tastes of Chinese fare. Kaneyasu thought he had plenty of time to go back and check on my mother.

Back in Japan after three weeks Kenji was ambushed by Toji, who was wearing the latest in French fashion fresh back from a run through all of Europe and Asia to bring Kenji one message.

"Go to Kobe at the new moon and leave Kaneyasu behind."

It was this move that has always had me believing that Toji may have respected Kaneyasu for his knowledge and skill but hated him, just as Wei had, for turning him into a vampire. Toji had wanted to drown his sorrows at the loss of his family with booze. Now as an immortal he had to live with his vague memories of his family long dead and still feel sadness from it.

Because of Toji's instructions Kenji left Kaneyasu in Okinawa claiming he was going off to hunt fishermen.

Kaneyasu got what he deserved in the end. Wei found him in Okinawa and killed him. Wei wasn't alone, he'd found a couple others in China that Kaneyasu had changed as well.

Kenji found me in a simple pine shack up in the mountains where my mother's people left her so the 'god' could claim his wife and child. My first memory of Kenji was of his dark red eyes taking in the scene, standing from the doorway as the morning light played off of what uncovered skin was visible.

And I too thought he was a god. He had always been my father, really.

Kenji was a very smart man. He knew by the fact I'd had a heart beat that I wasn't an immortal child, so he found deer for me to feed from and started teaching me language within the first hour after he'd found me.

One more scientific thing Kenji learned with my birth, something he had serious doubts he'd be able to prove, was that a hybrid child would gain a reverse of their fathers ability if they had one. Kaneyasu could make your ability stronger or weaker and it was easier for him the closer he was to the person he was manipulating. It was much easier to handle newborns with abilities that way. And that is one reason why Kaneyasu kept Kenji as a traveling partner all those years. Kenji's ability to manipulate mass size and shape was unstoppable with Kaneyasu pumping more power into it.

Kenji had been born to be a father. And since he had found out that it was possible for him to have children he had desired nothing more than to have a biological child of his own. He probably would live liked dozens but would settle for one if that was all he could get.

He could never do what Kaneyasu had done and kill random women by attempting to mate with them, Kenji fed off of people but he still respected them. He respected their sacrifice.

This Evangeline was human, female, and within child bearing age. And on top of it didn't seem to be afraid of vampires.

"You can claim her dad. But I don't know how far that coven will let you get. Besides what if one of those couples wants a baby? Wouldn't she be likely to give one to them?"

"I have, in my day, wooed a woman Ichiro."

"Yeah," I snort, my smile coming back as I see him start to smirk, "Shizuka worshiped you before she could even form coherent sentences."

That caused us to wrestle a bit, upsetting the old maple and a skinny pine.

"If I am to attempt to ask her to bear me a child Ichiro I need to earn and gain her, as well as her families, trust. But that in itself may not be enough."

"Oh?"

"Did you not see the look in her eyes as she sat there among her family?"

"The sort of lost curious look for you having a beard?" I quipped back. He smacked me on the back of the head for cheek.

"She desires to be changed. They have not done it yet for a reason, and if I can find out why perhaps I can find something I can give her in exchange-"

"For using her body, her egg, and her human life for a child?" I interrupted. Kenji gave me a small glare before shaking his head at me.

"Perhaps you are right. I should not be thinking this way about the human. She is _more_ than a womb with legs."

I knew he would come back to that. Kenji may think like he could manipulate the girl like this, but we both knew he would never actually _do_ it. It was too immoral.

"Womb with legs." I repeated back in English. "Shizuka's going to love that." I laughed.

.~.

After I watched Kenji walk away from the house with the weak, pale looking human I decided to get to know the gold eyes a little better.

"So Alice, how does your future seeing work?" I open up a bit, making a conscious effort to relax and not let my instincts override the fact I was severely outnumbered. Bella's ability sizzles against mine. It feels like oil on a hot burner.

At first the vampires are uneasy and I am increasingly becoming interested in what the others can do. Just to see how they react I stretch it to block Alice's mate, Jasper. If his glare is any indication his ability was helping keep tabs on me somehow. I try not to smirk back at him.


End file.
